Comparison of growth and nutrient uptake capacities of three dominant species of Qinhuangdao green tides

Since 2015, green tides have been blooming in offshore waters of Qinhuangdao, with serious impacts on the local ecological environment and tourism. Ulva australis, Bryopsis plumosa, and U. prolifera are the dominant species of Qinhuangdao green tides, following a sequential succession pattern. Ulva prolifera is the dominant species,with the highest biomass and the greatest influence on the local ecological environment. To study the reason of green tide dominant species succession and U. profilera became the dominant species with the largest biomass,we compared and analyzed the growth and nutrient uptake capacity of the three algae. The results showed that temperature significantly affects the growth of the three species. Within the temperature range of the experimental setup, the optimum temperature for the growth of U. australis, B. plumosa and U. profilera is10℃, 15℃, and 20–25℃, respectively. Combined with the temperature variation trend during green tide bloom development, we believe that temperature is the key environmental factor for the succession of the dominant species. Ulva prolifera has a higher growth rate than U. australis and B. plumosa under the same nitrate,ammonium, and phosphate levels. Significant differences in the maximum absorption rate(R_(max)) and R_(max)/Ks(the relationship between uptake rate and substrate concentration) values indicated that U. prolifera had an apparent competitive advantage over U. australis and B. plumosa regarding nutrient uptake. Therefore, the strong growth and nutrient uptake capacities of U. prolifera might be the main reason for becoming the dominant species with the largest biomass in Qinhuangdao green tides.

Adaptive genetic diversity of dominant species contributes to species co-existence and community assembly

The synthesis of evolutionary biology and community ecology aims to understand how genetic variation within one species can shape community properties and how the ecological properties of a community can drive the evolution of a species.A rarely explored aspect is whether the interaction of genetic variation and community properties depends on the species'ecological role.Here we investigated the interactions among environmental factors,species diversity,and the within-species genetic diversity of species with different ecological roles.Using high-throughput DNA sequencing,we genotyped a canopydominant tree species,Parashorea chinensis,and an understory-abundant species,Pittosporopsis kerrii,from fifteen plots in Xishuangbanna tropical seasonal rainforest and estimated their adaptive,neutral and total genetic diversity;we also surveyed species diversity and assayed key soil nutrients.Structural equation modelling revealed that soil nitrogen availability created an opposing effect in species diversity and adaptive genetic diversity of the canopy-dominant Pa.chinensis.The increased adaptive genetic diversity of Pa.chinensis led to greater species diversity by promoting co-existence.Increased species diversity reduced the adaptive genetic diversity of the dominant understory species,Pi.kerrii,which was promoted by the adaptive genetic diversity of the canopy-dominant Pa.chinensis.However,such relationships were absent when neutral genetic diversity or total genetic diversity were used in the model.Our results demonstrated the important ecological interaction between adaptive genetic diversity and species diversity,but the pattern of the interaction depends on the identity of the species.Our results highlight the significant ecological role of dominant species in competitive interactions and regulation of community structure.

Population differentiation in the dominant species(Ulva prolifera)of green tide in coastal waters of China

Since 2015,green tides with Ulva prolifera as the dominant species in the Qinhuangdao coastal waters have continued to occur.In this study,the relationship between green tides in Qinhuangdao and the Yellow Sea(setting sites in Rudong and Qingdao)was evaluated by genetic analyses of U.prolifera.Single nucleotide polymorphism(SNP)markers were used to analyze genetic diversity and genetic relationships among groups.Genetic differentiation was lower among floating U.prolifera populations in Rudong and Qingdao than in Qinhuangdao.The floating U.prolifera population had higher genetic diversity and polymorphism levels in Qingdao and Rudong than in Qinhuangdao.Physiological experiments showed that the growth rate and net buoyancy of floating U.prolifera were highest in Qinhuangdao and Qingdao,respectively,under the same environmental conditions(temperature and light).Overall,these findings showed that U.prolifera populations in the Qinhuangdao and Yellow Sea green tides(Rudong and Qingdao)differ significantly at the molecular and physiological levels.Therefore,the Qinhuangdao green tide is not correlated with the Yellow Sea green tide and has a different origin and development mode.This study provides insight into the mechanism underlying green tide blooms in coastal waters of China.

Diversity and dominant species of arthropods in different forests of Aershan,Inner Mongolia

Taking different forests in Aershan of Inner Mongolia as sample plots, diversity and dominant species of arthropods were studied. The results show that two classes, 17 orders, 68 families, 130 species and 3742 individuals were identified and 92.31% of total species appeared in natural forests, and 75.38% of total species appeared in plantations. The orders of Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera and Hymenoptera covered most of the collected arthropods. In different forest types, diversity indices is natural mixed forests （Betula platyphylla x Larix gmelinii）〉 natural pure B. platyphylla forests〉natural pure L. gmelinii forests〉plantations with pesticide treatment〉plantations without pesticide treatment. In natural forests, more than 70% of the arthropod families, species and individuals were distributed in shrub and herb layer, while in plantations 75% of the arthropod families, 78% of species and 80% of individuals were also distributed in shrub and herb layer. Lepidoptera, including Loxostege sticticalis （Linnaeus）, Chilo suppressalis （Walker） and Lymantria dispar （Linnaeus）, had the highest dominant degree.

Species’ geographical range, environmental range and traits lead to specimen collection preference of dominant plant species of grasslands in Northern China

Many different factors,such as species traits,socio-economic factors,geographical and environmental factors,can lead to specimen collection preference.This study aims to determine whether grassland specimen collection in China is preferred by species traits(i.e.,plant height,flowering and fruiting period),environmental range(i.e.,the temperature and precipitation range)and geographical range(i.e.,distribution range and altitudinal range).Ordinary least squares models and phylogenetic generalized linear mixed models were used to analyze the relationships between specimen number and the explanatory variables.Random Forest models were then used to find the most parsimonious multivariate model.The results showed that interannual variation in specimen number between 1900 and 2020 was considerable.Specimen number of these species in southeast China was notably lower than that in northwest China.Environmental range and geographical range of species had significant positive correlations with specimen number.In addition,there were relatively weak but significant associations between specimen number and species trait(i.e.,plant height and flowering and fruiting period).Random Forest models indicated that distribution range was the most important variable,followed by flowering and fruiting period,and altitudinal range.These findings suggest that future floristic surveys should pay more attention to species with small geographical range,narrow environmental range,short plant height,and short flowering and fruiting period.The correction of specimen collection preference will also make the results of species distribution model,species evolution and other works based on specimen data more accurate.

Dominant woody plant species recognition with a hierarchical model based on multimodal geospatial data for subtropical forests

Since the launch of the Google Earth Engine(GEE)cloud platform in 2010,it has been widely used,leading to a wealth of valuable information.However,the potential of GEE for forest resource management has not been fully exploited.To extract dominant woody plant species,GEE combined Sen-tinel-1(S1)and Sentinel-2(S2)data with the addition of the National Forest Resources Inventory(NFRI)and topographic data,resulting in a 10 m resolution multimodal geospatial dataset for subtropical forests in southeast China.Spectral and texture features,red-edge bands,and vegetation indices of S1 and S2 data were computed.A hierarchical model obtained information on forest distribution and area and the dominant woody plant species.The results suggest that combining data sources from the S1 winter and S2 yearly ranges enhances accuracy in forest distribution and area extraction compared to using either data source independently.Similarly,for dominant woody species recognition,using S1 winter and S2 data across all four seasons was accurate.Including terrain factors and removing spatial correlation from NFRI sample points further improved the recognition accuracy.The optimal forest extraction achieved an overall accuracy(OA)of 97.4%and a maplevel image classification efficacy(MICE)of 96.7%.OA and MICE were 83.6%and 80.7%for dominant species extraction,respectively.The high accuracy and efficacy values indicate that the hierarchical recognition model based on multimodal remote sensing data performed extremely well for extracting information about dominant woody plant species.Visualizing the results using the GEE application allows for an intuitive display of forest and species distribution,offering significant convenience for forest resource monitoring.

Short-term responses of an alpine meadow community to removal of a dominant species along a fertilization gradient

Aims The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning has intrigued ecologists for several decades,but the effect of loss of a dominant species on community structure and functioning along a nutrient gradient remains poorly understood.The aim of this paper was to test the effect of a dominant species on community structure and function by conducting a species removal experiment along a fertilization gradient.Methods We removed the population of a dominant species(Elymus nutans)in a long-term fertilization field in an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau,China.univariate general linear models were used to evaluate the effects of fertilization and removal on above-ground vegetation characteristics,including photosynthetically active radiation in the understory,species richness,shannon-Weiner diversity index,simpson’s dominance index,above-ground biomass(includ-ing different functional groups)and seedling richness and density.Important Findingsresults revealed that after two plant growing seasons,there was no significant effect of the removal of a dominant species on species richness and diversity of the remaining vegetation,but the biomass of forbs and seedling recruitment were significantly increased indicative of the potential for long-term effects.moreover,removal had a large effect at high fertilization levels,but little effect when fertilization levels were low.our studies indicated that community response to loss of a dominant species was mainly dependent on resource availability and the remaining functional group identities.We also found seedling recruitment was usually more sensitive to the influence of competition of dominant species than the estab-lished vegetation in the short term.

Distribution of dominant species and abundance of nannofossils in surface sediments of the central and northern partsof the South China Sea──Comparison and discussion

The distributional trends and their controlling factors of dominant species and nannofossil abundance in sur face sediments of marginal and coastal seas in low to middle latitudes and high latitudes are discussed on the basis of theanalysis of 146 samples from the nothern and central parts of the South China Sea and of comparison between the resultsof current work and data from other seas.Despite significant variations in taxonomic composition between seas or between areas within one sea, there are somegeneral trends in nannofossil distribution of marginal and coastal seas. All those nannofossil assemblages in middle and lowlatitudes are dominated by two species: Gephyrocapsa oceanica and Emiliania huxleyi. Although the relative abundanceof these species may vary greatly from area to area, Gephyrocapsa oceanica in general prevails in nearshore or semiclosedenvironments, increasing in number towards the shoreline, while Emiliania huxleyi increases in relative abundance to wards continental slope and open ocean environments, decreasing in abundance again only in very deep-water, i. e., nearthe CCD. Similarly, the abundance of calcareous nannofossils, as a whole, is lower nearshore, increasing with water depthtowards the continental slope, and then decreasing again towards and near the CCD. In high latitudes, the dominantspecies are Emiliania huxleyi and Coccolithus pelagicus.There are two groups of factors controlling the nannofossil distribution in surface sediments: ecological factors, in cluding particularly water temperature, supply of nutrients; and sedimentological factors, including influx of terrigenousmaterials and deep-water carbonate dissolution.

The particular species determining spatial heterogeneity in shady and terrace on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau,China

Spatial patterns of plant species and patchy community are important properties in grasslands.However,research regarding spatial patterns of formed patches with various species has not fully advanced until now.Our purpose is to clarify differences in spatial pattern formed by species and community constructed under shady and terrace habitats.The three common Kobresia-Carex patches(Size 1,0.6–0.9 m^(2);Size 2,3.0–3.8 m^(2) and Size 3,6.5–8.8 m^(2))were selected in shady and terrace on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau,and corresponding quadrats of 1m1m,2m2m and 3m3m were placed for S1,S2 and S3 patches,respectively.The surveyed quadrats were divided into 20cm20cm large cells(L-cells),and further divided into four 10cm10cm small cells(S-cells).We used the binary occurrence system(presence/absence data)to record occurrences of all species in S-cells.The analysis shows that the power law model was well able to determine the spatial distribution pattern of species or patchy community in shady and terrace.All species and patches show aggregated distribution in shady and terrace habitats.In the shady habitat,the relative spatial heterogeneity(ε)of individual plant species was lowest at presence frequency(P)of 0.1–0.3,whereas in the terrace habitatεwas lowest at P<0.1,andεincreased monotonically with increasing P.For most dominant species,P andεvalues were higher in terrace than those in shady.We concluded that the dominant species largely determine spatial heterogeneity of the Kobresia-Carex patches,while companion and rare species have weak influence on the community-level heterogeneity in shady and terrace habitats.

Responding of zooplankton to environmental factor changes in the Changjiang River estuarine regions in spring-summer from 2016 to 2020

The estuarine areas are under frequent influence from freshwater intrusion and ocean currents,in which zooplankton species are diversified and variable as they are sensitive to physio-chemical variations in water.Therefore,understanding the relationships between zooplankton and environmental factors help us know the water quality.To achieve co-existence with species in similar ecological group or habit,they could inevitably alter themselves to fit the ecology and adjust the function according to the competitive exclusion in ecological theory.However,information of the co-existence of dominant species in the Changjiang(Yangtze)River estuary(CRE)and adjacent waters remains scarce.We explored the relationships between dominant zooplankton and environmental factors in the study region in spring-summer from 2016 to 2020,involving particularly the composition of dominant species,ecological groups,their relationships with environmental factors,and co-existence of important species,using the non-multidimensional scale analysis(nMDS)method and redundancy analysis.Results show that Labidocera euchaeta and Tortanus vermiculus were dominant species in the study scope.The turnover rate of dominant zooplankton was greater(>50%)in spring while the species number was higher in summer.The dominant species were estuarine,offshore,and eurytopic based on the adaptation to salinity.In spring,the ecological groups were dominated by estuarine species,while in summer by estuarine and offshore species.In addition,the nMDS showed that the dominant species in the same ecological group were more dispersed and not prominently clustered;the dominant species were staggered among different ecological groups.The temperature,salinity,pH,dissolved oxygen,and chlorophyll a were the main environmental factors on the distribution of the dominant species in spring,while in summer were dissolved oxygen,temperature,salinity,and pH.The domination of medusae of Nemopsis bachei and Pleurobrachia globosa in zooplankton community in spring,and the continuous decrease in abundance of L.euchaeta reflected the effects of local climate change.The temperature and salinity changes in different years and the subsequent response of zooplankton reflected the influence of freshwater intrusion and/or ocean currents.Zooplankton in similar ecological habits exhibited the competitive exclusion in terms of co-existence.

The effects of data aggregation on long-term projections of forest stands development

Forest management planning often relies on Airborne Laser Scanning(ALS)-based Forest Management Inventories(FMIs)for sustainable and efficient decision-making.Employing the area-based(ABA)approach,these inventories estimate forest characteristics for grid cell areas(pixels),which are then usually summarized at the stand level.Using the ALS-based high-resolution Norwegian Forest Resource Maps(16 m×16 m pixel resolution)alongside with stand-level growth and yield models,this study explores the impact of three levels of pixel aggregation(standlevel,stand-level with species strata,and pixel-level)on projected stand development.The results indicate significant differences in the projected outputs based on the aggregation level.Notably,the most substantial difference in estimated volume occurred between stand-level and pixel-level aggregation,ranging from-301 to+253 m^(3)·ha^(-1)for single stands.The differences were,on average,higher for broadleaves than for spruce and pine dominated stands,and for mixed stands and stands with higher variability than for pure and homogenous stands.In conclusion,this research underscores the critical role of input data resolution in forest planning and management,emphasizing the need for improved data collection practices to ensure sustainable forest management.

Distribution and dynamics of niche and interspecific association of dominant phytoplankton species in the Feiyun River basin,Zhejiang,China

To investigate the dominant species and interspecific association in the phytoplankton community of the Feiyun River basin in Zhejiang Province,East China,the main stream and the Shanxi Zhaoshandu Reservoir in the downstream were chosen as the study area,for which 22 sampling sites were designated.Sampling was conducted in September 2021,January,May,and July 2022.Phytoplankton species were identified from both quantitative samples and in-vivo observations.Phytoplankton was quantified by direct counting.Results show that there were 98 species belonging to 6 phyla and 78 genera.In addition,to clarify the niches of the dominant phytoplankton species and their interspecific association,the dominance index was calculated,and a comprehensive analysis was conducted including niche width,niche overlap value,ecological response rate,overall association,chi-square test,and the stability.The phytoplankton community exhibited characteristics of a Cyanobacteria-Chlorophyta-Diatom type community,showing higher diversity in spring and lower diversity in summer.Among 11 dominants phytoplankton species from 3 phyla,both frequency and dominance degree varied seasonally,of which Microcystis sp.was the dominant species in Spring,Autumn,and Winter.The niche widths of the dominant species ranged from 0.234 to 0.933,and were categorized into three groups.The niche overlap values of the 11 dominant species ranged from 0.359 to 0.959,exhibiting significant seasonal differences-highest in winter followed by autumn,spring,and summer in turn.The overall correlation among dominant species in all four seasons revealed a non-significant negative association,resulting in an unstable community structure.A significant portion(84.2%)of species pairs displayed positive associations,suggesting a successional pattern where Diatoms dominated while other dominant species shared resources and space.Despite this pattern,stability measurements indicated that the dominant species community remained unstable.Therefore,careful monitoring is recommended for potential water environment issues arising from abnormal proliferation of dominant species in the watershed during winter.This research built a theoretical foundation with a data support to the early warning of eutrophication and provided a reference for water resources management in similar watersheds along the eastern coast of China.

Classifying forest inventory data into species-based forest community types at broad extents： exploring tradeoffs among supervised and unsupervised approaches

Background： Knowledge of the different kinds of tree communities that currently exist can provide a baseline for assessing the ecological attributes of forests and monitoring future changes. Forest inventory data can facilitate the development of this baseline knowledge across broad extents, but they first must be classified into forest community types. Here, we compared three alternative classifications across the United States using data from over 117,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis （FIA） plots. Methods： Each plot had three forest community type labels： （1） ＂FIA＂ types were assigned by the FIA program using a supervised method; （2） ＂USNVC＂ types were assigned via a key based on the U.S. National Vegetation Classification; （3） ＂empirical＂ types resulted from unsupervised clustering of tree species information. We assessed the degree to which analog classes occurred among classifications, compared indicator species values, and used random forest models to determine how well the classifications could be predicted using environmental variables. Results： The classifications generated groups of classes that had broadly similar distributions, but often there was no one-to-one analog across the classifications. The Iongleaf pine forest community type stood out as the exception： it was the only class with strong analogs across all classifications. Analogs were most lacking for forest community types with species that occurred across a range of geographic and environmental conditions, such as Ioblolly pine types, indicator species metrics were generally high for the USNVC, suggesting that LJSNVC classes are floristically well-defined. The empirical classification was best predicted by environmental variables. The most important predictors differed slightly but were broadly similar across all classifications, and included slope, amount of forest in the surrounding landscape, average minimum temperature, and other climate variables. Conclusions： The classifications have similarities and differences that reflect their differing approaches and Dbjectives. They are most consistent for forest community types that occur in a relatively narrow range of Invironmental conditions, and differ most for types with wide-ranging tree species. Environmental variables at variety of scales were important for predicting all classifications, though strongest for the empirical and FIA, guggesting that each is useful for studying how forest communities respond to of multi-scale environmental processes, including global change drivers.

Species diversity, regeneration and dominance as influenced by canopy gaps and their characteristics in tropical evergreen forests of Western Ghats, India

Canopy gaps play a significant role in maintaining structure and composition of tropical forests. This study was carried out in tropical evergreen forests of central Western Ghats in India to understand the influence of canopy gap size and the relationship of gap regime attributes to diversity measures and regeneration. The average gap size in the study area was found to be 396 m2 and around half of gaps were 4–8 years old. Gaps created by natural single tree fall were smaller in size but significantly higher in number. Diversity and regeneration of woody species were compared with canopy gaps and intact vegetation. Species richness and diversity was higher in gaps than in intact vegetation. Macaranga peltata, a shade intolerant species dominated gaps while intact vegetation was dominated by shade tolerant Kingiodendron pinnatum.Gap size significantly influenced species diversity and regeneration. Gap area and age were significantly and negatively correlated with diversity measures but positively correlated with regeneration. Among all the attributes of gaps, regeneration was significantly positively correlated with light intensity. Gaps maintained species diversity and favored regeneration of woody species. In addition to gap size and age, other gap ecological attributes also affected species diversity and regeneration.

Distribution pattern of macrobenthic assemblages along a salinity gradient in the Hangzhou Bay and its adjacent waters

It is widely acknowledged that the distribution of macrobenthos is affected by salinity, but the degree of influence varies in different areas. To explore the distribution pattern of macrobenthic assemblages in the Hangzhou Bay,12 stations were sampled to collect macrobenthos and the corresponding bottom water. Changes in the general characteristics of macrobenthos along the salinity gradient in the Hangzhou Bay and its adjacent waters were considered. Three dominant species were identified, including the polychaetes Sternaspis chinensis, the crustacea Oratosquilla oratoria and the echinoderm Ophiuroglypha kinbergi. And the macrobenthic assemblages showed a zonal distribution along with the salinity change. The correlation analyses showed that salinity, depth,temperature, suspended solids and dissolved oxygen had concurrent significant correlations with carnivorous group, Margalef species richness(d), Brillouin index(H) and Shannon-Wiener diversity index(H'). In light of the strong correlation between salinity and Changjiang River diluted water, which produces considerable disturbances by freshwater inflows, the deposition of suspended solids and the resuspension of seabed sediments,the combined environmental disturbances, instead of salinity alone, should be adopted to explain the zonation distribution pattern of macrobenthic assemblages.

Effects of Different Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi on Physiology of Viola prionantha under Salt Stress

Arbuscular mycorrhizal(AM)fungi distribute widely in natural habits and play a variety of ecological functions.In order to test the physiological response to salt stress mediated by different AM fungi,Viola prionantha was selected as the host,the dominant AM fungus in the rhizosphere of V.philippica growing in Songnen saline-alkali grassland,Rhizophagus irregularis,and their mixtures were used as inoculants,and NaCl stress was applied after the roots were colonized.The results showed that V.philippica could be colonized by AM fungi in the field and the colonization rate ranged from 73.33%to 96.67%,and Claroideoglomus etunicatum was identified as the dominant AM fungi species in the rhizosphere of V.philippica by morphology combined with sequencing for AM fungal AML1/AML2 target.Inoculation with both the species resulted in the formation of mycorrhizal symbiosis(the colonization rate was more than 70%)and AM fungi significantly enhanced plants’tolerance to salt stress of varying magnitude.Higher activity of antioxidant enzymes and augmented levels of proline and other osmoregulators were observed in AM plants.The content of MDA in CK was higher than that in the inoculations with the stress of 100,200,and 250 mM.All indices except soluble protein content and MDA content were significantly correlated with AM fungal colonization indices.The analysis for different AM fungal effects showed that the mixtures and R.irregularis worked even better than C.etunicatum.These results will provide theoretical support for the exploration and screening of salt-tolerant AM fungi species and also for the application of AM-ornamental plants in saline-alkali urban greening.

Zooplankton composition and distribution in the Lembeh Strait of North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Based on oceanographic survey data in June 2012 in the Lembeh Strait, the zooplankton ecological characteristics such as species composition, individual abundance, dominant species and distribution were analyzed. The results showed that 183 species(including 4 sp.) had been recognized, most of them belonged to copepoda.Cnidaria followed with 43 species(including 1 sp.) were identified. The average abundance of zooplankton was(150.47±58.91) ind./m3. As to the horizontal distribution, the abundance of the zooplankton was higher in the southern waters than in the northern waters. The dominant species in the study area were Lensia subtiloides,Sagitta enflata, Lucifer intermedius, Oikopleura rufescens, Diphyes chamissoni, Creseis acicula, Subeucalanus subcrassus, Temora discaudata, Aglaura hemistoma, Doliolum denticulatum, Canthocalanus pauper, Oikopleura longicauda and Nanomia bijuga. Zooplankton biodiversity indexes were higher in study area than previous study in the other regions. The findings from this study provide important baseline information for future research and monitoring programs.

Relationships Between Community Structure and Environmental Factors in Xixiakou Artificial Reef Area

The construction of artificial reefs has unparallelly developed for a few decades in China.Artificial reefs can be used to manage and conserve commercially exploited fish and crustacea.However,their suitability as ecological niche is poorly characterized.Therefore,in this study,we detected the seasonal variation of community biodiversity and the corresponding driving environmental factors.We also explored the relationships between dominant species and environmental factors to identify appropriate ecological niche areas.Different statistical analysis methods were used to assess species distribution within an artificial reef area in Xixiakou during nine sampling events in four seasons between 2017 and 2018.Non-metric multidimensional scaling(NMDS)and cluster analysis results indicated that the components of community can be divided into two clusters.Complexity of community,which is exhibited by species number,biodiversity,and catch per unit effort(CPUE),was significantly higher in summer than in other seasons.Generalized additive model(GAMs)results revealed the significant effects of temperature and chlorophyll a on the community structure.Sebastes schlegelii,Hexagrammos otakii,Conger myriaster and Charybdis japonica were the dominant species in four seasons.GAMs results indicated that temperature,dissolved oxygen(DO),pH and chlorophyll a affect the CPUE of dominant species significantly.The distinct suitable ecological niche for each dominant species was found in this study.For example,Charybdis japonica preferred to live in the area with 20.7–22.1℃,dissolved oxygen 7.07–7.15 mg L−1 and salinity 31.8–31.9.The results of this study are beneficial to resource conservation and fishery management.

Effects of grassland management on the community structure, aboveground biomass and stability of a temperate steppe in Inner Mongolia, China

Plant community structure responds strongly to anthropogenic disturbances, which greatly influence community stability. The changes in community structure, aboveground biomass（AGB）, biodiversity and community stability associated with different management practices were studied with a three-year field investigation in a temperate steppe of Inner Mongolia, China. The species richness, Shannon-Wiener index, evenness, plant functional type abundance, AGB, temporal community stability, summed covariance, scaling coefficient and dominant species stability were compared among areas subjected to long-term reservation（R）, long-term grazing（G）, mowing since enclosure in 2008（M） and grazing enclosure since 2008（E）. Site R had higher perennial grass abundance and lower species richness than sites G, M and E, although the AGB was not significantly different among the four sites. The species structure varied from a single dominant species at site R to multiple dominant species at sites G, M and E. The long-term reservation grassland had lower biodiversity but higher stability, whereas the enclosed grassland with/without mowing had higher biodiversity but lower stability. Different stability mechanisms, such as the compensatory dynamics, mean-variance scaling and dominant species stability were examined. Results showed that community stability was most closely related to the relative stability of the dominant species, which supports the biomass ratio hypothesis proposed by Grime.

Plant diversity patterns in different forests in Aershan,Inner Mongolia

Taking the communities of the sample sites in Aershan of Inner Mongolia as an investigation object, the indices affecting plant diversity were studied. The investigation was carried out in three different forest types （natural forests, plantations and regenerated forests after fire）. Results show that 95 plant species belonging to 19 families and 50 genera were identified in total. Of these species, nine were arbors, six were shrubs and the other 80 were herbs. We found some differences in the dominant species of different layers in three forest types. Natural forests had the largest importance value for the total number of species, followed by plantations and regenerated forests after fire. Plantations and natural forests had a similar change in richness indices. The largest value of richness indices was obtained in natural forests, while the lowest value was in regenerated forests after fire. Three diversity indices （Simpson＇s, Shannon-Wiener and Pielou＇s indices） indicate a similar trend in all sample plots. With an increase in elevation, values of diversity indices first increased and then decreased. In different forest types, similarity between natural forests was largest, while similarity between the regenerated forests and plantations was lowest.